


The One Who's Always There

by kenzz_95



Series: Trektober 2020 [20]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Mentions of Jim's messed up home life, Stupid miscommunications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27110551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenzz_95/pseuds/kenzz_95
Summary: At age 17, Jim considers himself to be only marginally messed up, all things considered, but he has no idea where he'd be without Bones, who's always been there for him. Jim happens to have been in love with his best friend for years, but is content in their friendship because there's no way Bones feels the same way. Or at least that's what he thinks.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Series: Trektober 2020 [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948633
Comments: 8
Kudos: 53
Collections: Trektober 2020





	The One Who's Always There

**Author's Note:**

> Trektober Day 20: High School AU
> 
> I'm not usually the biggest high school AU person, but I wanted to try something different for me and I sort of wanted to explore the idea of Jim growing up with a solid support system outside of his messed up family life. Thus, this was born.
> 
> This is...sort of more 4 scenes with a thread tying them together than it really is a "plot". Whatever.

Jim thought, as he stared at the ceiling fan in the McCoy’s guest room one night, that he really didn’t know where he’d be without Bones. Certainly not here, and not anywhere good either, he would bet. He had already been on the road to nowhere at 13, the victim of family trauma on top of personal trauma on top of more family trauma, and he had already been getting into things he shouldn’t be. But then there had been a group project in his 7th grade science class and nobody had wanted to be partners with the kid who was somehow barely a teenager and already a burnout so he had ended up with the one other person nobody in the class had any interest in pairing up with. This ended up being the boy with a thick southern accent who had moved in over winter break and was one part quiet, two parts grumpy, and, as it turns out, about 10 parts genuinely the best person Jim Kirk had ever met in his goddamn life. The two had bonded over the hours they spent working on that presentation on the human skeleton, which hadn’t actually been _difficult_ because another thing Jim quickly learned about Leonard - who usually went by Len but who Jim had immediately nicknamed after the subject of the project they were working on - was that he was both smart as a whip and seemed to instinctively know just how to push Jim to get him to actually apply himself, even just a little.

That had been four years ago and the two had been inseparable ever since. Bones’ mom, who Jim definitely knew better than his own mother at this point, sometimes liked to joke that when they had met Jim and Bones had been two awkward misfits who, against all odds, somehow managed to teach one another how to be something resembling normal people. Well, maybe not normal, but decently well adjusted. The two had picked up other friends along the way, but they were always for each other first. Their friend Nyota liked to call them “weirdly codependent”. She probably had a point. But it was good, and they were good together. And Jim was a rising senior who ran track and cross country, had a solid group of friends, carried a 4.0, and had recently found out that he had received an absolutely absurd score on his SAT, not that he had actually told anyone this. This was compared to the path he had been on before he met Bones, which probably would’ve led to dropping out of high school, or juvie, or an STI, or getting stabbed or something.

So Jim was grateful, and he tried not to spend too much time dwelling on the what ifs of his life. Because that night, when Frank had kicked him out _again_ , he knew he had had somewhere to go. Without Bones, Jim probably would’ve sought comfort in a warm body, or a bottle of cheap booze, or starting a fight, or any of the other things he had occasionally tried when he was feeling particularly shitty. The thing was, though, that the warm feeling of love and belonging he felt when Bones pulled up in that stupid “my dad’s a neurosurgeon” car his parents had gotten him when he turned 16 and didn’t ask what had happened but instead stopped for milkshakes and had bitched about something stupid, that feeling beat the temporary escape that any of his so-called disaster coping mechanisms could ever give him. So Jim was going to bed that night in a guest room that felt more like his than his actual bedroom did, with a stomach full of BBQ chicken sandwiches and Eleanor McCoy’s homemade peach cobbler, and a heart that was happier for the love he had found than it was sad for the love he never had at home. 

Bones had a girlfriend now, which Jim thought was sort of odd. It wasn’t odd, obviously, that someone _wanted_ to be Bones’ girlfriend. Jim could understand the feeling. Not that he wanted to be Bones’ _girl_ friend, but still. Bones was witty, sarcastic, really smart, loyal, selfless, and intensely good looking. Like, incredibly good looking. He had grown and filled out a touch earlier than a lot of other guys their age, especially earlier than Jim who was quite lanky, and while everyone else was catching up Bones still looked like he should be a football player or something. But, like, a hot one, not one of the meathead stupid ones. Bones, of course, did not play football because he had intensely internalized his neurosurgeon father’s aversion to head injuries, but still. Bones had great boyfriend potential. What made Jim think Bones having a girlfriend was a bit odd was more the fact that Jim couldn’t comprehend how Bones even had time to have a girlfriend in the first place.

Bones was probably the busiest person Jim had ever met. Between his dedication to his education - and getting into a good college so he could get into a good medical school - and being on the basketball team and National Honors Society and the service club he was in and the program he was a part of that let high school students shadow doctors at the local hospital, Bones didn’t have a lot by the way of free time. Granted, Bones always had time for Jim. Or, rather, they always made time for each other. They went to each others’ sporting events and Jim joined the service club so he could hang out with Bones more and they spent most evenings studying together, even if they didn’t actually have time to do anything fun. But Bones said he never could quite manage to study with Jocelyn because she was distracting and Jim was pretty sure Bones didn’t see his girlfriend outside of school more than once a week. Jim was also pretty sure that Jocelyn hated him for the amount of time he got to spend with _her_ boyfriend - Jim maintained the fact that Bones was his best friend first - but was wise enough not to say it. Bones would sometimes get all three of them to hang out together, but Jim knew it stressed him out trying to split his attention fairly and also it just pissed Jocelyn off because she wanted a little bit of alone time with her boyfriend, so Jim usually avoided those situations. In fact, when he saw Jocelyn’s car in the McCoy’s driveway, he usually went to go bother Hikaru or Nyota or someone instead. But not tonight.

A thunderstorm had resulted in a canceled cross country practice, so Jim had gone over to the auto part and repair shop where he worked part time, hoping to get a few more hours. He was saving up for a motorcycle. He liked his job, loved the people he worked with, and was paid very well especially considering the fact that he was not actually a mechanic and mostly just rang up customers at the cash register and helped them find things all day. It had all gone fine for the first couple hours, and the aptly named crazy Scottish mechanic Scotty had let him help out in the garage in between customers. But then Chris Pike, the owner and manager of the shop, had showed up and things had turned.

Normally Chris was great, in fact he was so great Jim wondered if he was being ruined for other future bosses. But Chris was dead set on Jim putting his education first, so he was limited to ten hours a week during the school year, which apparently this counted as even though they were only one week in and Jim didn’t have much to do anyways. The conversation had been going alright at first but then Jim had said something along the lines of “what does it even matter, it’s not like I’m going to college.” And then it had fallen apart. Actually, it had mostly fallen apart when Chris asked what Jim planned on doing instead and Jim didn’t have a satisfactory answer. Which is to say he didn’t have any answer. Chris had then asked what Jim’s SAT score was, and instead of telling him Jim just left, which he was pretty sure would’ve been grounds for termination at any other job and with any other boss.

The whole conversation made Jim feel like the underside of his skin was itchy, and he just wanted to go home, which at some point had started to mean the McCoy’s house. And yeah Jocelyn was over but it wouldn’t be the first or last time that Jim hung around at Bones’ house without Bones actually being available. 

Bones wasn’t downstairs, at least not that Jim could see, but his parents were. Neither of them questioned Jim’s sudden presence in their house, Eleanor just offered him leftovers and David shot him a smile from where he was working on his laptop at the kitchen table, and that was that. Jim munched on cold pizza next to David at the table, at least until he made the mistake of trying to make some innocent, polite conversation and ask his best friend’s dad what he was working on.

“I’m looking over Len’s college admissions essays,” David had replied, as though that was such a simple and expected thing. “I hope you know that Eleanor and I would be more than happy to look over yours for you as well. Hell, you’re not my kid so I could even write you a reference letter if you need one.”

Why did this topic keep coming up today? It was like the universe hated him or something.

“I’m not going to college, but thanks,” Jim managed, his voice a bit pinched. David arched an eyebrow in a very Bones way but otherwise didn’t react much.

“Trade school?” he asked, “I know how you enjoy that job at the auto shop.”

“No,” Jim said simply.

“Okay, Jim, tell me,” David said, closing his laptop and looking at him, “What are your plans after graduation, then?”

“I dunno,” he shrugged, taking another bite of pizza, mostly for something to do with his mouth. He found himself not very hungry all of a sudden.

“Why?”

“Because it’s fucked up that I have to know exactly what I’m going to do with my life at 17.”

It was easier than telling the truth. 

“Len tells me you won’t tell him your SAT score. You know, it’s not too late to retake it. And if it’s an issue of not being able to afford the retest or the applications…”

Suddenly, Jim didn’t want to be here anymore. He brought his plate to the dishwasher, thanked Eleanor for the leftover pizza, and then despite the protests he left the house. 

Only to sit on the front step. Because he didn’t have anywhere else to be, didn’t have anywhere else he _wanted_ to be. He was contemplating going back to his actual house and stealing some of Frank’s horrible booze and drinking until it didn’t taste so horrible anymore when Bones walked outside, swinging Jocelyn’s keys on a lanyard around his wrist, and nearly jumped out of his skin seeing Jim on his front porch.

“Jesus Christ,” Bones said breathlessly, putting a hand to his chest like he was some sort of old man, “You nearly gave me a heart attack. What are you doing sitting on the front porch? You do know you’re allowed inside, right?”

Jim said nothing, opting to simply shrug instead.

“Dammit, did you call me?” Bones asked, suddenly and very obviously worried he had missed a “hey, Frank kicked me out again can you pick me up?” call. He reached for his phone in his pocket, then seemed to realize he didn’t have it. “Shit, I left my phone in my room. I was a bit distracted, but I thought I still would’ve heard…”

“I didn’t call you,” Jim said, looking his friend up and down. It sure seemed like Bones had been distracted. His dark hair was all ruffled and there was the beginning of a hickey on his neck. Jim did not like to think about Bones making out - or more - with someone, and did not like to be presented with evidence that it was occurring. It made him a bad friend, but it was just how it was.

“Have you eaten? There should be leftover pizza in the fridge,” Bones offered.

“I know,” Jim nodded, accidentally giving too much away because Bones raised an eyebrow and said,

“So you were inside. And then you left. But you’re still sitting on the porch. Weren’t you gonna work tonight?”

Jim grunted and Bones sighed and sat down next to him on the step.

“Didn’t you come out here to get something for your girlfriend?”

“She can wait.”

Bones was just looking at him and dammit he was going to wait him out and even if Jim didn’t tell him his parents definitely would so Jim looked slightly to the right of Bones’ head and admitted,

“I got into it with Chris when I told him I wasn’t going to college. And then nearly got into it with your dad for the same reason.”

Bones looked at him like he had grown a second head, then schooled his expression.

“I would’ve thought Chris would’ve been okay with you going to trade school. Isn’t that what he did?”

“I’m not doing that either.”

Bones was looking at him like he was insane again. 

“Jim, you might end up as salutatorian. Probably would’ve been valedictorian at any school without Spock in it.”

“So that means I have to go to college?”

“It means you should. You can’t just do nothing.”

“I can do whatever I want.”

“Well, you shouldn’t just do nothing. What’s wrong with college, anyways?”

“It’s complicated.”

Bones was giving him that look, that “I expect an answer and I’ll wait as long as it takes to get one” look. But then Jocelyn must’ve opened the window over the porch and was yelling,

“Len! What’s taking you?”

Jim craned his neck to look up at Jocelyn, who was pretty clearly just wearing a bra and some shorts. Jim sort of felt like throwing up, but Jocelyn didn’t look too much happier.

“Uhhhh,” Bones said awkwardly, to nobody in particular. Finally he looked at Jim, “Do you wanna come watch a movie with us?”

“Do I want to watch a movie while you have sex with your girlfriend? I’m not usually one to say this but, come on Bones, boundaries.”

“We aren’t going to have sex.”

“So she didn’t send you out here to get a box of condoms from her car or something?”

“Mind your damn business,” Bones said, which sounded a bit like a confirmation in Jim’s mind but he didn’t go to the car. Instead he stood up and opened the door, “Come inside, have some more pizza. Stay over. We’re not done with this conversation.”

Jim rolled his eyes but for some reason followed his friend inside anyways.

Bones was wearing just his boxers and a t-shirt when he barged into Jim’s guest room without knocking a couple hours later. Jim tried not to be a creep about it. 

“Jocelyn and I made brownies,” Bones announced and Jim snorted from where he was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling.

“Is that a euphemism?”

“Brownies,” Bones confirmed, uncovering two brownies sitting on the paper towel that he was holding. They looked amazing. And smelled even better. Jim had been smelling them for an hour and he wanted some. Bones took a bite of his, closed his eyes, and made a noise that was a little bit sexual that Jim felt in his whole body.

“Is one of those for me?” Jim asked, trying to pay more attention to the brownie in Bones’ hand than the face he made while eating the other one.

“Sure,” Bones said, sitting down on the bed with Jim, “If you explain to me your sudden aversion to having any kind of post graduation plans.”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Wasn’t plannin’ on it.”

Jim snatched the brownie from the paper towel and sighed,

“This is gonna sound weird.”

Bones kept looking at him, not saying anything, so he had no choice but to continue,

“Bones, I don’t wanna do college without you.”

“So don’t? Come with me, we can be roommates, it’ll be great,” Bones said like it was the simplest thing in the world to him.

“Is that even what you want though?”

“‘Course it is, Jim. I would’ve brought it up earlier but you’ve been so cagey about college for the past year, I didn’t wanna push it. It’s not that big of a deal. It’d be great for us to go to the same school. I’d prefer it, even.”

“It’s not that simple, though.”

“Okay, why not?”

“Because, Bones, I’ve seen the schools you’re applying to! You’re an ivy league legacy on _both_ sides. I can’t go to a damn ivy league school.”

“You certainly have the grades for it. What was your SAT?”

“You’re the third person to ask me that today,” Jim grumbled.

“Just tell me, Jim. It’s a stupid standardized test, it ain’t that big of a deal,” Bones requested and, well, Jim was getting sick of hiding this and he trusted Bones, he really did, so he sighed, pulled up the score on his phone, and handed it to his friend without preamble. 

To his credit, the only reaction Bones had was that his eyes got wide for a couple seconds and he nodded,

“I don’t think admissions are gonna be your problem.”

“You’re not going to make a big deal out of it?” Jim asked, because he had just _known_ from the moment he saw the number and accompanying percentile on the portal that everyone was going to freak the hell out about this. He knew this because he had gotten the same score as Spock, and then had to watch everyone have a full on meltdown about it.

“Is that what you want?” Bones asked, one eyebrow up. Jim shook his head and Bones smiled, “Yeah, didn’t think so.”

“I can’t go to any of the schools you’d go to because I’d need a full tuition scholarship to avoid having loans for the rest of my goddamn life and before you ask no your parents can _not_ pay my way…” 

“I wasn’t going to.”

“...and honestly I just don’t think I’d even _fit_ at those places, ya know?” 

“I do know, because I’m only applying to them at all because my parents want me to. I’ve been to my parents’ alma maters for alumni events a few times and truly each person I met there was more pretentious and obnoxious than the person before. There’s no way in hell I’m actually _going_ to one of those schools. I’m also applying to Ole Miss and UGA, I’ll go to one of those and there ain’t a doubt in my mind that you can get a full ride to a state school.”

Jim didn’t say anything, so after a brief pause Bones just kept on talking, “And I’m not married to either of those places either. I get it if you don’t wanna move to the deep south. It ain’t for everyone. Hell, maybe it isn’t even for me anymore, it’s been awhile since I lived there. I’m open to suggestions, I’m sure we can find some place that works for both of us.”

“And you’re fine with that?” Jim asked, not really able to fully believe that it could be that easy.

“You ever know me to say something I don’t mean to spare someone’s feelings?” Bones asked and Jim had to admit that he hadn’t. 

“Fine, I’ll do it,” Jim conceded and Bones got this smile on his face that Jim couldn’t help but _feel_ because making Bones really smile was always so damn rewarding. He didn’t say that, though, because he was pretty sure friends didn’t say stuff like that to each other, so instead he said, “And if you tell anyone my SAT score, I will kill you.”

The thing was, it wasn’t like Jim _needed_ Bones to come to all his cross country meets. He hadn’t even _asked_ Bones to come to, well, any of his cross country meets. He was more aware than most that, in terms of spectator events, cross country was about as boring as it got. He wasn’t even that into it anyways, he just did it because running relaxed him and it helped him stay in shape for track season, which he mostly just did because he thought hurdles were fun. But it was just what they did. Bones went to all of Jim’s track and cross country meets, and Jim went to all of Bones’ basketball games. Well, the ones that weren’t too far away, that is. Jim was in his fourth season of cross country and he was pretty sure that Bones had never missed a meet without letting him know ahead of time. So even though Jim didn’t need Bones to come to his cross country meets, he was still surprised to not see Bones waiting at the finish line. He hadn’t texted during the meet either. Maybe he had just forgotten. Regardless, Jim was not going to be clingy and weird about it. So he just went home, showered, and tried his best to not get on anyone’s radar.

That, however, was not the only unspoken rule that Bones was going to break that night. In the time since Bones’ parents had got him that stupid car for his 16th birthday - so named on Bones’ account because he truly thought it was stupid and on Jim’s because he was a bit jealous and wanted it for himself - Bones hadn’t once actually pulled up to Jim’s house. He always picked him up around the block. They hadn’t discussed that either. Bones must’ve just figured that if the boy who Frank always referred to as Jim’s boyfriend in the most disparaging way possible pulled up to the house in a brand new Benz then it would just spell more trouble for Jim at home. And it most definitely would, so he was grateful for the small gesture even though he had never actually expressed that. So Jim was more than a bit surprised to hear several loud honks, look up from his desk out the window, and see Bones’ stupid car in his driveway. Shit. Whatever this was, it couldn’t be good.

Bones honked again, and that really wasn’t a very good idea because now Frank was yelling out the front door and Jim had to go past him in order to get outside. Luckily the last thing Frank was ever going to do was stop Jim from leaving, but there were comments made and Frank was probably going to be holding this over his head for a while. Or, at least until he turned 18 and moved into the McCoy’s house. Any feelings Jim may have had about what Frank said went out the window pretty quickly, though, upon seeing Bones’ face through the windshield. He was scowling deeply, and it was probably taking every ounce of self restraint in his being to not roll down his window and shout back at Frank.

Jim scrambled into the passenger seat and Bones was peeling out of the driveway before he even had his seatbelt on. Bones looked mad and deeply uncomfortable, but he still didn’t say anything. It was Jim who finally broke the silence by suggesting they get milkshakes at the place they always went when Frank threw him out. Bones grunted in agreement, drove to the shake place and then to a local park where they sat in the parking lot in silence for a few minutes, drinking their shakes. Finally Bones spoke,

“I caught Jocelyn making out with Clay fucking Treadway behind the bleachers this afternoon.”

Well that hadn’t been where Jim expected this to go. 

“What a bitch,” Jim remarked, “You’re way hotter than him anyways, I don’t know what the hell she’s doing.”

“Apparently I’m not around enough for her tastes. Which, well, maybe she’s got a point.”

“So she should’ve just dumped you then! Sneaking around behind your back is shady as hell. You broke up with her, didn’t you?”

“How could I not? She didn’t want to salvage it, though. It was almost less satisfying that she didn’t fight me when I told her it was over.”

“You wanted her to feel the consequences of what she did.”

“Yeah, suppose so. And, God, Jim I didn’t think it would be like this. I thought it would hurt more. We dated for almost a year!”

“You look pretty damn hurt to me,” Jim pointed out and Bones shook his head,

“No, I’m not hurt, I’m _pissed_. I’m mad she went behind my back with someone else. If she had just broken up with me, well, I’m not actually sure I would be that upset. She stabbed me in the back. I wasn’t sure it was going to workout anyways, but I figured we’d at least be friends after we broke up.”

“Fuck her. You don’t need friends who treat you like that.”

“And I shouldn’t even be mad about this. I’m such a goddamn hypocrite,” Bones grumbled, pressing his head against the steering wheel.

“How are you a hypocrite? You didn’t cheat on her,” Jim said. It wasn’t a question. He was pretty sure Bones wasn’t even capable of going behind someone’s back like that. It wasn’t his way.

“Well, no, but...nevermind. Forget it.”

“You’re not a hypocrite. And I can’t believe she did that to you. Do you wanna go egg her house?”

“No, Jim.”

“Do you wanna go egg _his_ house? He knew you two were together, ya know.”

“That won’t solve anything.”

“Might make you feel better.”

Bones rolled his eyes in a way that made it clear to Jim that he was going to be okay. They were silent for a few moments, finishing their milkshakes, until Bones declared that he wanted another one and started driving back to the shake place.

“I fucked things up for you, didn’t I?”

They were just driving now, not going anywhere in particular, while Bones drank an almost comically large milkshake. Sometimes they would talk and sometimes they wouldn’t. Jim let Bones lead. Jim was used to being the one who was having a really shitty day and needing someone to be there for him, the roles hadn’t been reversed too often. So he simply tried to do what Bones always did for him in these situations.

“You mean with Frank? Don’t worry about it.”

“I didn’t think, I was just angry and…”

“Seriously, Bones, don’t worry about it. It’s fine. My mom’s in town, he won’t get too bad and maybe by the time she leaves he’ll have forgotten about it,” Jim said, even though he didn’t believe it himself. Frank’s capacity to remember things to berate Jim for was seemingly endless. 

“Your mom’s home? You never mentioned that.”

“She just got in last night. I don’t think she’s staying long.”

"Where's she been this time?"

“God knows. We haven’t talked much. She was asleep by the time I got home from my meet. She still calls me Jaime though. I don’t think she realizes nobody’s called me that in 10 years. Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to turn this into a conversation about my problems.”

“I asked, it’s fine,” Bones shrugged, “But I’m sorry again. You should stay over with me tonight.”

“Okay,” Jim agreed, always grateful for an opportunity to get away from his own house for a night.

“And I’m sorry for missing your meet. I was there, actually, but I went back in the school to get a drink and that’s when I ran into Jocelyn and Clay.”

“You not seeing me run over a line in the grass is literally the least important thing to happen tonight.”

“I should’ve known she was never the one for me,” Bones said, completely out of the blue, “You know, when I told her I was bi she asked why.”

“Ugh, fuck...wait, when you said what?” Jim asked, his brain finally catching up with his ears as he realized what Bones had just said.

“When I told her I was bi. What the hell was I supposed to even say back to ‘why’? I don’t know _why_.”

“Is this you coming out to me or something.”

“Coming...what?” Bones asked, shooting Jim an odd look from the driver’s seat. “We’ve discussed this. Did you _forget_ that I’m bi?”

“I did not forget because we have not discussed this. I would remember if we had,” Jim declared, because he absolutely would’ve remembered a revelation like this. Partly because Bones was his best friend and even though sometimes the other boy teased him for never paying attention to anything, Jim listened to Bones. But mostly because Jim had an actual physical list entitled “Reasons Why I Can Never Tell Bones I’ve Been In Love With Him Since The 8th Grade:” and reasons 1-10 were all just some variation of “Bones is straight”. So Jim definitely would’ve remembered.

“We had this conversation last summer. It’s been more than a year.”

“Okay, so how did it go then?”

“I asked you how you realized that you were bi,” Bones started and oh, Jim remembered that conversation now. But at no point during it had Bones actually made any indication that he was trying to tell him anything.

“You asking me how I knew I was bi and you telling me you’re bi are two completely different things,” Jim argued, “How the hell was I supposed to extrapolate that from that conversation?”

“You said I might be bi because you think I sit funny and then I said ‘yeah’.”

Jim was perplexed. And people said he was bad at communicating.

“That was just a stupid joke! And you can’t just say ‘yeah’ to something like that and expect me to know that you’re bi.”

“That’s how you came out to me.”

“No it’s not! You asked me if I was bi!”

“And you said ‘yeah’!”

“That’s not the same thing!” Jim exclaimed, but he was laughing now and so was Bones because this was the dumbest miscommunication either of them had ever had.

“Wait,” Jim realized as the two of them were still laughing, “I don’t think I have any straight friends anymore.”

“What about Hikaru’s new friend Ben?”

“You mean Hikaru’s new _boyfriend_ Ben? No.”

“Shit, I think you’re right. Dammit, how did I not know they were dating?”

“You never pay attention to anything anyone else does?” Jim grinned and Bones took a hand off the wheel to hit him on the shoulder,

“Don’t steal my lines.”

Jim was curled up on Bones’ bed, his head in Bones’ lap, and Bones was pulling his fingers through Jim’s hair casually while he flipped through flashcards on his phone with his other hand. The two of them had always been more physically affectionate than most guys were with their friends, so the position itself wasn’t necessarily new, but the fact that they were doing it on Bones’ bed and not on the couch in the living room made it seem so much more intimate. Jim was pretty sure he had died and gone to heaven. 

“So, are you going to homecoming?” Bones asked out of the blue, putting his phone down on Jim’s shoulder. He kept playing with his hair, though.

“Mmmm,” Jim hummed as Bones scratched his scalp lightly, “I dunno. Those things aren’t really my scene. And Nyota turned me down again, and then I got yelled at by Mr. Jordans because he didn’t realize she’s in on the joke.”

“Your life is hard.”  
“Thanks.”  
“You should go, though. It’s our last one.”

“Why do you care, you hate shit like that. You didn’t even go sophomore year because you hated it freshmen year so much. And you bitched about Jocelyn making you go last year for like a month.”

“Nyota told me she’s bringing Spock this year and if I miss the opportunity to see Spock at a dance I’ll be bitching about it for a lot longer than a month.”

“Spock’s gay,” Jim pointed out. Bones knew that as well as he did. 

“They’re just going as friends.”

“How many blackmail videos are you gonna get from this thing?”

“I think I’ll just keep my camera on the whole time, just in case.”

“Good idea. Maybe get a GoPro or something,” Jim suggested, laughing a little at the mental picture of Bones at a dance he didn’t really want to be at, GoPro strapped to his forehead just so he could capture every second of Spock being at a dance he wanted to be at even less.

“You should go with me,” Bones said, incredibly casual to the point where Jim was certain that he just meant they would go in on tickets or something.

“Sure. I heard the tickets are $5 cheaper if you buy two.”

“No, I mean you should go with me...as my date.”

Jim probably hadn’t sat up so fast in his life.

“What?” Jim breathed, almost afraid to speak out loud. He was a little breathless.

“Dammit. Did I misinterpret this? I could’ve sworn you…”

Bones was looking nervous now. Jim probably looked like a gaping fish.

“I do,” Jim finally managed.

“Okay, so…”

“I’ve been in love with you since the 8th grade,” Jim blurted out, mostly because Bones was a cryptic motherfucker sometimes and maybe Jim was actually the one misinterpreting this.

“Realizing I was in love with you was the impetus for realizing I wasn’t straight last year. And then I panicked and started dating Jocelyn but now it’s been a month since _that_ ended so...”  
Bones was calm again, like this was the easiest thing he had ever done. And maybe it was. Because being with Bones had always been as natural as breathing, there was no need to over complicate things. But then Bones had just said he was in love with him and that was kind of a big fucking deal, actually. But it was just Bones. His Bones. So he leaned in and kissed him and Bones was kissing him back and _shit_ Bones was a really good kisser. Jim had imagined this a million times, this and other things quite a bit more explicit, but somehow reality surpassed even his wildest fantasy. Bones sort of tasted like cinnamon and his hands were so steady on Jim’s body and this was without a doubt the best he had ever felt in his entire life.

“So, wait, was the homecoming thing just a line or…” Jim asked, pulling away just a fraction of an inch.

“No way, I’m not missing Spock at a dance, even if that means I have to be at a dance too. We’re going. As my boyfriend, you’re required.”

“Boyfriend?”

“That okay with you?”

That was more than okay with Jim. In fact, that was perfect. Everything he had ever wanted. He didn’t know how to say that, though, so he simply said, “Fuck yeah,” and then kissed Bones again.


End file.
